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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Front shock shot?

I was just tearing down the front end of the car to swap some GT springs in and noticed that the shaft of my driver's side shock will slide fore-aft. It will slide back far enough that the front arm will touch the shock housing. I don;t know allot about these shocks, but that cannot be good as they are part of the front suspension geometry..?

Any ideas? I will be tearing it off the car today and taking to work monday to see if the guys in our pump shop have any ideas..

Larry
Larry Embrey

Larry replace your shocks, bushings, and king ping bushings, etc.
Safety Fast
Bill Guzman

I already replaced the bushes up front about a year ago, uprated to V8's etc.. I had a clunk up front and am pretty sure that the shock is/was the culprit. I have heard of a few places apple, and world wide. Still not sure if I should go std or uprated, which Co is cheapest? etc etc..

Larry
Larry Embrey

If that shaft moves fore and aft it will affect the castor angle that side which will cause pulling to one side or the other.
Paul Hunt

Exactly one of the many things she has been doing, along with shifting over rough roads, and ridding super soft due to old sagged prings and leafs..

I a have a guy in the club that may have a pair of shocks off one of his parts cars that were in good shape, lets hope so, I just need something safe to get her to the dyno next weekend. I am going to swap front cols and rear leafs today so newer parts from my parts car which should also help.
Larry Embrey

Any of you folks corner weighed your cars? I want to up my spring rate to 700 lbd/in and need the info to determine free lenght and thus ride height when installed.

Pete
Pete

Larry, I just ordered a pair of front shocks for my '75 B (not a V8) from World Wide, and I was much impressed. They took about 5 days to arrive from Madison via UPS.

I asked them about maintanence, their reply was "You don't need to do anything. Ever." From the looks of them, I would say this is accurate.

Also, I have heard many times over about the *ahem* "quality" of Apple, avoid at all costs.
Aaron Whiteman

Larry,

I'm with Aaron, World Wide is the one to do business with. I met Peter Caldwell at the V8 Meet in Grand Rapids. He stopped by the parking lot Sat. night after a day over at the vintage races at Grattan. Very nice guy. He confirmed that tuning is possible on the lever shocks and that they would be adding tips to their website.




These folks are the ones to call:

http://www.mailbag.com/users/nosimport/

"How World Wide Approaches Rebuilding Lever Shocks...

First. What fails in a lever shock? Almost all of the (non-traumatic)
failures result from lack of oil in the shock. The manuals always
recommend Checking or topping-up your shox in various intervals 3000
miles or so. Why? Because they leak!.. what a surprise! They don't
leak just because they are British, they leak by design (now there's
a bumper sticker).

Speaking here of the rear shox... the shaft that protrudes from the
body of the shock is rotating in the body without a bearing. To
ensure sufficient lubrication there is often a channel or groove in
the shaft bore. At the outside there is a rubber packing retained by
a thin metal washer. A packing needs some lubrication to work at all
and the weeping of oil acts as a deterrent to dirt getting in. Dirt
getting in will score the shaft at the seal area hastening the demise
of the packing and wearing the bearing surface in the body.
The solution that all of us rebuilders use is to machine the body and
install a bearing. We use Delrin, others use bronze. Bronze requires
oil, Delrin doesn't. We also machine the body for a rotary oil seal
(others don't) (in fact we use a double lip seal with dust excluder).
One guy does use a rotary single lip seal and the others use several
rubber washers held in place with a steel washer or two.

To solve the pitted and scored shaft problem, others sand or grind
the shaft down.(you don't need to be precise with rubber washers) We
have manufactured for us, to our specs, stainless steel sleeves that
allows us to have a 3 micron finish and consistent diameter and
concentricity of the shaft. After many years, we have found this to
be very reliable. Our shox don't leak.

The process... step by step. Receive grimy old shock, tumble clean in
a deburring/tumble cleaner. Glass bead blast entire shock.
Disassemble.
Tumble and hot wash internals. Bead blast the rest of the arm.
Machine for
the bearing and for the seal. Wash again. Press in bearing and seal.
Press
on sleeve. Inspect and repair/replace as necessary the pistons and the
valving. Reassemble components using all new hardware of proper
thread and
style. Fill with oil and bleed. Compare valving with NOS shock,
adjust if necessary. Wash AGAIN. Paint 2 coats primer and 3 coats
high heat black enamel. Date code and ship.

There you have it.
Peter Caldwell, President."
Carl

I have also met Peter on a trip to his shop in Madison. He gave me a tour and showed me how they rebuild shocks. They are definetely the best!!!
James Johanski

Sounds like World Wide gets the nod then. I was able to get a spare shock from a local club member and fellow V8'er. THANKS TERRY!!! This will get me through driving to the Dyno session on Sat. After that she "should" be coming off the road for an extended winter work session.. I also fitted GT springs in front figure least if I don;t like them I know will not be in there for long.

PETE,
I have weighed my car for/aft. mine with a iron block 302 was 1240front, 1180 rear



Larry Embrey

This thread was discussed between 19/10/2002 and 21/10/2002

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